Building inspectors face bribery charges

Friday

Aug 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 30, 2013 at 11:04 AM

DETROIT - Seven current or former city building inspectors were charged with taking bribes after a corruption investigation found that they ignored illegal wiring and faked inspections, authorities said yesterday.

DETROIT — Seven current or former city building inspectors were charged with taking bribes after a corruption investigation found that they ignored illegal wiring and faked inspections, authorities said yesterday.

The inspectors were charged with accepting bribes ranging from $50 to $3,000 offered for commercial or residential properties over a six-year period, the state’s attorney general, Bill Schuette, told a news conference.

Each inspector faces at least one 10-year felony count of being a public officer who accepted a bribe and one one-year misdemeanor bribery count, he said.

“These inspectors perpetrated a culture of corruption in Detroit that put the health and the safety of Detroit families at risk. That is unacceptable. That cannot happen,” Schuette said.

The inspectors are accused of ignoring wiring that violated city code, faking documents for inspections that never took place and creating phony architectural drawings, Schuette said. The incidents will be referred back to the city so that the structures where there were phony documents can be inspected to confirm they are safe, he said.

When asked whether there was concern that senior officials were involved, Schuette replied simply that the investigation was continuing. The city employs a staff of about 85 inspectors, he said.